The war of the future 02
by DefogYap The Writer
Summary: Adopted from CJTheOverlord. Summary: In order to fight giant monsters, we had to create monsters of our own. The WSSR is on a mission to end the apocalypse. But what measures must they take in order to fulfill the mission? What horrors must the pilots of the personas face to see the reality of the situation? Rating must change in future chapters, featuring Persona 3 and 4 casts.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: *cracks knuckles* *Stretches body* Oh right! The Persona series Restoration 101 project is back again. This time… I am adopting a mecha AU called 'The War of the Future' by CJoverlord. With his permission granted for me to bring this back from the grave, I am also allow to change bits and pieces to what I think would be best for these unique idea.

This entire fanfiction would be HEAVILY inspired by Pacific Rim, so please don't mind the countless references! XD

I may not be a very frequent writer… but I will do my best.

Enjoy!

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…

…

The War of the Future:

~Opening Prologue~

' **Shadows' (** **影** **, kage, Japanese)**

 **Definition: a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface.**

 _ **Our**_ **Definition: extra-terrestrial creatures made of negative energy**

' **Personas' (** **ペルソナ** **, peru-sona, Japanese)**

 **Definition: Images, character, the aspect of someone's character that is presented to or perceived by others.**

 _ **Our**_ **Definition: Giant man-piloted robots** _ **Reversed Engineered**_ **from extra-terrestrial creatures made of positive energy.**

When I was a young, curious child back in my days, whenever I felt small and lonely, I would look up to the stars. As I looked deep into the shining bright stars in the void of darkness, I thought to myself: What if there is life out there? What kind of aliens would they be in outer space?

Heh…

Turns out I was looking at the wrong direction.

The rocky, sturdy earth suddenly shook violently, creating cracks and fractures in the ground. The gaps between the two sides of the ground grew larger and larger… until large black tentacles made of dark energy spurt out of the fractures and reached out to the nearest object it could hold on.

They wrapped around any object they could hold on; high rise buildings, tall trees, mountains, volcanoes… even living creatures. It was almost as if the foreign matter wanted to connect itself onto Earth's surface from another dimension.

When alien life entered our world, it was from deep within the solid crust of the Earth. There were secretly hidden locked portals buried inside the earth for millions of years, waiting the right opportunity to strike.

Now, these portals from another dimension were finally breached, swinging wide open for anyone… anything to come into our world. Our once 'Safe' and 'Secured' world does not exist anymore.

…I was fifteen when the first 'Shadow' arrived in San Francisco.

* * *

It was a full moon on that night. One of the invading tentacles that could not be removed by any means had a dark, pulsing aura around it. It began to let out blood red glow that became brighter and brighter with every second that passed.

Out of the sudden, the tentacle exploded into a million pieces. As soon as the dark bits and pieces touched the ground, it hovered and flew back to its original position. It was as if it was sent back in time. However, the parts formed a completely different entity. They piled up one by one into an inky black humanoid shape with glowing red eyes that was the size of a mountain.

The, the unknown creature solidifies and finalize into its final form. It wore a giant shiny black coat wrapped around by what seemed to be alien greyish metal chains. It had a hard purple armoured piece on its 'face' and a pair of soul-piecing red eyes stared through them. The creature also unnaturally razor sharp claws from its own 'hands' and numerous spikes poking out from its entire body.

It looked like this extra-terrestrial being was made to destroy and kill anything it sees.

And it did…

Soon, the gigantic alien rampaged through the streets and cities of San Francisco. It made use of its claws and spikes to crush and crumble buildings effortless like they were made of paper. It left behind a trail of dark matter, disintegrating and corrupting any form of matter that is not made of the creature… like a white blood cell destroying foreign particles in our body.

The 'shadow' let out a loud roar of victory as it succeed in completing his sole existence.

The USA military were immediately alerted to the destruction. They sent every single weapon and firepower they could throw at it...from tanks to fighter jets.

But none of them stand a chance…

They were soon consumed by the large creature from the void of darkness. Almost none of the vast amount of bullets and explosives could harm that alien.

* * *

…

…

By the time jets, missiles and tanks took it down a week after its arrival, another major city was destroyed and invaded by yet another giant alien that was 35 miles away from San Francisco.

And another attack happened…

…Another,

…And another,

…until the point when tens of thousands of lives were lost. Food and water resources diminished rapidly. Livestock and reservoirs were radiated and corrupted.

They could control the elements, creating unnatural weather hazards in the most 'safest' places that we once knew.

The more the dead, the more we realised the attack would just keep on happening.

That was where we learned that _**this**_ was never going to stop.

…This was just the beginning…

We needed hope. We needed a solution. We needed an answer. We needed… a weapon.

This was where **_they_** came in.

…

…

* * *

A small young girl roamed around the empty, haunted roads of Tokyo. She was crying, looking, calling out for her parents. Little did she knew that they were long gone, buried among the rubble of the fallen buildings. The familiar shops and eateries were no longer recognizable. Small patches of fire engulfed the ruined land of the once prosperous modern city.

"Mama… Papa…!" She cried.

At that moment, she was alone.

Suddenly, a flock of F1 fighter jets zoomed across the sky above the young girl. The pilots of the flying war machine had not known of the little child's presence as they were focused on a single target in front of them. The sound of the rapid gunfire roared in the air, along with the loud ignitions of the explosive rockets.

Dark inky smoke and sounds of ricocheting bullets could be seen and heard not far from the young girl. As she turned around slowly, her face formed a look of sheer horror. A large shadow stomped out into a clearing from the smoke. It had a familiar shape of a tall human. However, it had four legs instead of two and horrifying dark green eyes. Its back was filled impaled with long metal-like objects at random areas.

The terrifying giant soon spotted the young girl in front of her. It took long and enormous steps towards its prey, while shrugging off incoming bullets and rockets. It was not long before the shadow destroyed the fighter jets that were pestering it.

The poor, timid girl ran as fast as her legs could carry her, while she screamed and cried out for help. There were times where she nearly tripped but was able to regain her ground. However, this gave up precious time as the huge corrupted creature stumbled lazily towards its prey, almost as if it knows she would not escape.

The young child soon realised that the shadow was getting closer and closer. She looked around for another path to escape to. Unfortunately, in attempts of doing so, she did not pay attention to the small peddle in front of her and tripped over it.

The small girl injured her small frail body as she fell onto the solid ground. She was helpless as the large unstoppable creature closed the remaining distance between it and her. The shadow was about to crush her with its foot when…

*Flash* *Boom*

"Arghhhh!" The dark monster whined in agony as, out of the sudden, a large pillar of flame emerged out of the ground and burned off its arms.

A large unknown entity stepped out of the blue. It hovered over the small child protectively like a mother would do and its body unleashed a bright yellowish red aura, making it look like it was preparing another attack.

The unknown creature stood as tall as the shadow. It had a body shape of a female human and it wore what seemed to be a pinkish-red blouse with patches of amour on its chest, shoulders and legs. It had a large red wing attached to its arms and back shaped like a sakura flower, and wore a pink helmet with holes to show off its glaring yellow eyes.

The beautiful and god-like entity unleashed a furry of fire explosions on various parts of the Shadow, burning it to crisp. The shadow tried to retaliate by charging up and releasing lightning from within its body. However, it was immediately interrupted as the protector of the small child rushed in and gave a sharp kick to its abdomen.

The once unstoppable monster fell onto the ground with a loud thud, creating fractures on the road. The god-like creature danced elegantly and closed its wings to charge up one final attack, releasing a vast amount of flames onto the shadow. It burst into flames and soon it disintegrated into non-existence.

The young girl looked up to her saviour and stared at it in disbelief. At the same time, she was also thankful that it saved her life. The giant entity took one last look at the tiny human below her, before disappearing out of thin air.

That was the last and only time the girl saw her hero in her entire life.

* * *

…

…

These creatures of positive energy… 'Personas' as we called them, were like gifts from the heavens, a blessing given by the gods.

They saved us. They helped us regain the ground we had lost. They were our hope.

However, they were also just like miracles. They come out one day and then vanish in another, never to seen happen again. It got to the point we would never see another persona in the rest of human's existence.

Fortunately, these creatures left behind their last gift to humanity as we found pieces and bits of some of the fallen personas. The entire nation come together to form a research and development team to study these pieces and reverse engineer them to fulfil our needs.

People had learnt one important lesson: In order to fight these giant and horrific monsters, we had to build big and giant monsters of our own.

We soon became victorious, winning almost every single encounter of the shadows.

However, the more we win these skirmishes, the smarter the shadows the creatures became. This was the reason why we had to keep developing and advancing our technology. If we don't, we would be put back where we do not belong - buried in the ground.

We had to continue to fight this constant war between territories and property. It seemed that it could just never end.

…

…

~WWSR (World-wide Shadow Resistance) headquarters, Unit #000, 02 00AM~

"*Beep Beep* *Beep Beep*…"

The constant ringing sound of the alarm clock woke a young silver-haired mecha pilot from his realm of dreams. He slowly rose up from the bed and slammed the button to stop the alarm beside him. The half-naked man yawned loudly after being interrupted in his sleep. He had thoughts to go back to sleep when a voice message in a form of a hologram popped in front of him.

"Wake-y wake-y, Yu-senpai!" A cheerful and playful feminine voice could be heard calling out to the half-asleep man. "A mission had been assigned to you and must be accessed immediately."

Name: Yu Narukami. 鳴上 悠 (Translated as you going towards god)

Code Name: The Fool

Age: 21

Position/Status: Veteran in eliminating 'Shadows'. …Had successfully killed 8 in his 5 years as the Resistance.

Persona: Izanagi イザナギ

Yu walked away from his bed and towards his personal wardrobe. He opened it and tiredly picked out his clothes to wear over his bare body. The young pilot sighed heavily before asking the owner of the voice, "What's so urgent that I need to wake up so early in the morning, Rise?"

Rise Kujikawa is the support and communications manager of the WSSR. She works alongside with her assistant manager, Fuuka to assign missions and orders from the higher up and to also provide backup in encounters with the Shadows.

"The ever first Category B shadow, dubbed named 'Wild Drive' has appeared in the shores of Japan. Your mission is to protect the inhabitants of Okina City and fend off the target." Rise replied helpfully as she listed down the context and objectives of the mission.

Yu closed his eyes and took in a deep breath to contain the mixed feelings of excitement and worry. As he opened his eyes, he stared into a small photo of his family pasted on the wall of beside the wardrobe. The silver-haired man focused on a peculiar figure on the far right of the photo.

 _I'll make you proud, Father. Please wait for me._ He thought silently.

"Sergeant Dojima is ordering you to be at the meeting area in 5 minutes, Yu-senpai. Don't be late!" Rise reminded him as the voice call ended.

A devious smirk appeared on Yu's face as he shook his head in amusement. "How ironic…. To be reminded by the girl who is always late to the important meetings."

He then took one last look at the photo before walking to the bathroom to freshen up for the upcoming mission ahead.

Yu knew… he had to end his career soon one way or the other.

~End of Prologue~

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So… how was it? Do review to share your thoughts on it!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry for the wait. The long awaited official chapter one of 'The War of the future 02' is here! Please enjoy the following content!

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~Chapter 1: Where would you rather die? (1/2) ~

…

…

…

~WWSR headquarters, Room No. 100 – Meeting Room~

"I, Yu Narukami, am reporting for duty, Sir." The silver-haired pilot greeted Sergeant Dojima as he saluted in respect. Yu was in his temporary outfit – consisting of a silver jacket with an image of a sword with angle-like wings on the back, and white jeans with black stripes. He also wore a red tag on his right shoulder with the words 'WWSR' on it.

The stoic commander nodded his head slightly to acknowledge the young pilot's presence. He walked slowly towards Yu and held out a document for him to receive.

"All the information we could gather about the threat you are facing is here. Here, take a quick look." Yu took the flimsy document out of the commander's hands and flipped through the pages of it… or at least tried.

Unfortunately, there were only photos of the Shadow in the booklet. Other than the name, date and time of its appearance, there was nothing useful inside.

"Err, Sir. Pardon for being blunt here, what exactly do you possibly think that these 'information' would help me at all…" Yu remarked with a deadpanned expression. He waved the thin file filled with 'helpful' information in front of his superior's face to empathise his point.

Sergeant Dojima lets a small smile appear on his lips as he replied, "Yes, that is true. However, that hasn't stopped your reckless attempt to kick the asses of those Shadows."

Upon hearing those words, a light chuckle escaped the lips of the young pilot and a smirk formed on his face soon after. "I'll take that as a compliment, Sir…"

Sergeant Dojima gave the soldier a stern look. He had his mouth slightly agape as if he wanted to continue to talk to him. However, time is precious. Not wanting to waste any more time, the commander gave Yu the permission to leave for his mission, along with the final words.

"Be careful… and good luck, young lad."

The silver-haired young man rolled up the document in his hand and held it under his armpit. He gave a quick salute and immediately walked towards his destination.

As soon as Yu left the room, an elderly man with a long nose and bald head, wearing a white lab coat, stepped out of the shadows. He gave Sergeant Dojima a look of concern and worry.

"Why didn't you tell him?" the old man asked.

"I can't…" The stoic commander had an unreadable expression on his face as he spoke. "I can't distract him from his mission, Professor Igor."

…

…

As Yu Narukami walked down the corridors of the WWSR, workers, and officers ranking below him either gave him a salute in respect or gave him looks of admiration as he passed by. The young pilot returned their respect as he gave quick smiles of appreciation towards the follow members of the WWSR.

'The Fool' soon reached his destination: The Combat preparation room.

The large, heavy metal doors of the entrance of the room slowly slide open, revealing the numerous staff members consisting of engineers and scientist waiting for the pilot to come in.

…What's their objective?

Their objective is to prepare the pilots of the personas to be combat ready.

…and properly trying to make them look awesome as they kick the shadow's butt in style.

The staff members of the CPR worked tirelessly to arrange and prepare the armor, electrically operated spines and other delicate pieces of hardware for the pilot to put on. After Yu shed off his silver jacket and jeans, he stood in the middle of the room to allow the crew to help put on the necessary components on his body piece by piece.

…

I am not the head of my class.

I was never perfect.

However, that does not mean I could not hold on my own.

The team of pilots that the WWSR have assembled are no ordinary humans. Unlike the regular everyday citizen, we were trained in the most rigorous of conditions, from training to endure in high G forces to surviving in the fabric of space. We could have been mistaken for 'superhumans', but we were just pushing our bodies to the limit.

In fact, there is another thing that we, trained soldiers of the resistance, all have in common. We have all encountered _them_ once in a life time, the one we name our giant robots after – the personas.

Since the materials of the robots were reversed engineered and using the pieces of these fallen creatures, only the humans that encountered the persona, whether by sight or by touch, could use them.

It was like they are one who chose us. They are the ones who want us to fight them. They are the ones who want us to live.

Each of the encounters by every pilot is different from one another.

…And it turns out mine was the most unique.

It is because I met my persona more than once. 'He' was my guardian angel, constantly watching over me and rushing to my aid whenever I need it.

With the ever-knowing presence of him by my side, I feel like I am overcome _**any**_ challenge thrown at me.

…

The last piece of his armor was the helmet. One of the staff membered handed the silver headpiece to the young man and gave him some words of encouragement, "I believe in you, just like everyone is. Make us proud."

A thankful smile fell upon Yu's face as he replied. "I will… and thank you, sir."

Just as soon as Yu was fully suited up from top to bottom, the crew of the CPR guided the pilot to his next destination. While the large gray metal door opened in front of him, a bridge slowly extended from the foot of the door until it reached another entrance on the other side.

The entrance leads to the cockpit of Yu's personal giant shadow-killing machine – Izanagi.

The giant robot had a slender body of a male human with light armor pieces on its shoulder, chest, and torso. Its entire body had a color scheme of black and white, with a symbol of '神' on its chest. Izanagi stood an outstanding height of 288 feet and weighs a hefty 7,080 tons.

Sleek, fast and deadly. It is truly a one of kind killing machine.

His face beamed with excitement and joy, while Yu walked into the cockpit of Izanagi. The young pilot gave a look of fatherly pride… because he was involved in the process of creating 'him'. His looks were based on the persona that Yu had encountered numerous times. It was a face… or rather it's existence that he would never forget.

Once inside the giant robot, scanners and sensors from within the cockpit cast a net-like neon blue light on the entire body of Yu. The A.I built in Izanagi took several seconds before it could confirm the identification of its own pilot.

"WELCOME BACK, YU-SAMA." A monotone, an emotionless voice called out.

"It is good to back once again, Izanagi." Yu took a quick look around in the cockpit as he acknowledged the A.I of his giant companion.

"Did you clean yourself up like I told you to?" The silver haired man remarked with a small smirk. "…Because the shadow from the last fight spilt some smelly fluid onto you. I think some of it leaked into here."

"I HAVE ALREADY CLEANED EVERY SINGLE INCH OF MY BODY A WHILE AGO, YU-SAMA. YOU COULD CALL ME WHAT YOU HUMANS LIKE TO SAY – 'CLEAN AS A WHISTLE'." Izanagi replied with a 'hint' of humour in its voice.

"Hahaha…! Don't ever change Izanagi." Yu laughed loudly at the poor attempt of humour by his robotic companion.

"DON'T WORRY, YU-SAMA. I CAN'T CHANGE ANYWAYS." The A.I of Izanagi replied once again before it grew silent.

The pilot took it as a signal that his persona was ready to deploy at any moment. He dropped his easy-going and friendly attitude and put on a serious façade.

"Powering… Unit #000… Persona: Izanagi." Rise called out from the intercom of the cockpit.

The roar of the persona's engines echoed in the holding chamber. Hidden pistons and gears began to move faster and faster. The neon lights built on the hulking robot were lit up, getting brighter and brighter. Izanagi was becoming alive.

The lights in the cockpit lit up, revealing the mechanical parts that were used to connect the pilot to his persona. Yu pulled the ones hanging from the ceiling and connect them to his arms. He then stepped on the mechanical foothold on the floor of the cockpit, connecting it to his foot.

"Unit #000… Please confirm your connection to your persona." Rise instructed the pilot, while she typed and press the buttons on her keyboard in the control room. "Calibrate your left hand…"

"Calibrating left hand…" Yu acknowledged as he lifted his left arm. Signals were sent to the 'brain' of the giant robot, and soon it followed the commands of the pilot within the cockpit. It lifted its gigantic left hand until its chest level.

"Calibrate your right hand…" Rise instructed once again.

"Calibrating right hand…." The silver haired man followed the routine as he lifted his right arm. Izanagi followed the commands of Yu without any problems, confirming the perfect synchronization between him and his persona.

To further show the link between Yu and Izanagi, he commanded his robot companion to bring the two hands together. The crashing sound of metals colliding was heard as the opened left palm caught the clenched right first.

"Link between the Fool and Izanagi confirmed. No faults detected." Rise commented as she looked towards the monitor screen. "All is clear and ready to go!"

The floor beneath the giant robot suddenly rises, lifting the large hulking metal off from ground level and up towards the ceiling. The metal doors on the top of the holding room slowly slide open, revealing the starry night sky of the early morning above. Once the entrance to the outside world was fully opened, the elevator lifted Izanagi and Yu through it and exposed them to the cold breeze blowing against them.

As the giant shadow-killer robot was finally out in the open, large robotic hydraulic arms were deployed and attached a pair of abnormally sized rocket boosters on the back of Izanagi.

"Setting the destination to Okina city…" Rise announced as she typed out the command to turn the direction of the giant robot to make it face the correct direction. Gears and pistons lifted Izanagi slightly off the ground and spun him around 180 degrees to the right.

Once the pilot and his companion are facing the right direction, the lead supporter flipped up a plastic casing to expose a big red button hidden beneath it.

"Are you ready, Yu-senpai?" The twin ponytailed girl asked excitedly. Her fist was already hovering over the red button. Her eyes were sparkling with anticipation.

"You just want to smack that button for the fun of it, don't you?" Yu gave an amused smirk towards the loudspeaker in his cockpit.

"Oh come on, It is not like you can't look away from that huge obvious 'hit me' button. It wants me. It is literally begging me to do it." Rise pouted adorably as she could not tear away from her objective.

"Whatever you say, silly girl… Just get on with it." Yu shook his head in slight disbelief at the cheerful ball of energy's silliness. The Fool turned his attention back to the view of the nature surrounding the secret base, casting a stern and harsh glare at the horizon. It was time for action.

"Releasing Unit #000 – Persona: Izanagi in 3,"

"2!"

"1!"

"Annnndddd lift off!"

For sake of exaggeration, she leaped off her chair and slammed down onto the red button as hard as she possibly could with the biggest grin on her face. The wheelchair was thrown off balance and immediately crashed onto the concrete floor with a loud thud. The button sent electrical signals all the way from the support station to the temporary boosters attached to the giant robot.

The effect was instant. The rocket booster roared into life, charging power in its engine to its maximum. An Immense heat was generated in the propellers, starting with a small harmless blue flame to a bigger, stronger and more dangerous yellow-orange flame and finally an extremely violent bright orange inferno. The enormous amount of thrust drove the hulking death machine from zero to hundreds of miles per hour within seconds.

The metal feet of Izanagi grazed on the railings hard and unevenly. Sparks of embers flew wildly around the contact between the two surfaces of metal. The ear-deafening and the cringing sound of the grinding could be heard by the wildlife, causing to flee at the sudden loud noise.

Once Izanagi reached to the end of the railway, the boosters launched both the pilot and his mechanized beast high in the air and into the starry morning sky. As soon as the giant robot had gained enough altitude, the rocket boosters switched its role from lifting Izanagi into the air to propelling its destination.

…

…

Back at headquarters, Rise was getting judged by the onlookers surrounding her. Some of the crew members giggled at her childish antics, while others rolled their eyes and sighed in irritation. It was just another day in their job.

Some of the noticeable reactions were the ones directly beside Rise, specifically two of them – Fuuka, a short green haired woman and Aigis, a short blonde haired woman with a gray headband.

Fuuka was happy that her partner was having fun doing her job. She gave a warm, friendly smile towards her friend while watching the childish girl doing a fist pump in celebration.

Aigis, on the other hand, had a different reaction. She stared blankly at her partner's posture and movements and was genuinely confused by her antics. The blonde maiden was new to the job of supporting the pilots, so she was questioning whether this was a normal thing or not.

The leader of the trio eventually settled down and turned to back to find her seat… only to meet with the questioning and curious gaze of the general, sergeant Dojima. The orange twin-tailed woman yelped in surprise, jumping backwards and raising her hands in front of her body in attempts to defend herself. The elder general sighed heavily as he knew that her lead supporter was being immature once again.

He gave a stern glare at the petite girl and calmly stated, "Get back to your seat and continue to support the pilots, Lady Kujikawa."

It took a moment for the command to register in her frightened mind. Fearing his wrath, Rise immediately grabbed her chair and returned to her original position. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down before resuming her role.

"How far is Unit #000 from Alpha 231?" The commander questioned his commutators while looking at the various screens of information presented in front of him. [Note: Alpha 231 – code name for Okina City]

"Unit #000 is 500 meters from the site. It would take approximately 30 minutes for the both of them to arrive at the scene." Fuuka replied as she focused all her attention on monitoring the information presented on the various computer screens in front of her.

"What is the status of our target of interest?" Sergeant Dojima asked as he surveyed the digital map of the city near the coast. The map consists of a general detail of the location of the buildings and roads, as well as the residential areas. There was a big red dot at the furthest end of the North-East side of the city. It slowly inches towards the small clusters of green dots within the urban areas.

"The military are current holding off the shadow 'Wild Drive' as long as they can until Unit #000 arrives. Most of the civilians had been escorted to the PASB (Public Anti-Shadow Bunkers). They are safe… for now." Aigis reported as she watched intently at the computer screen, keeping track of the threat level of the Shadow in the area.

"That son of a bitch better arrive in time…" The elder commander muttered softly to himself, hoping for the best.

…

…

"Distance from target location, Alpha 321: 100 meters"

A monotone voice reported to the silver-haired pilot, informing the distance between him and his robot companion and their destination.

Yu Narukami looked towards the horizon and saw that the city of Okina was just within his field of vision. He saw countless sparks of light coming from the urban area and heard an occasional loud 'bang'. The military deployed by the government was certainly trying their hardest to stall the gigantic alien for as long as possible until his arrival.

Yu hoped that there would just enough distance between the safety area and the site where he would engage the shadow. The safety of the residents was his number one priority. He took a quick glance at the radar in his cockpit, observing the red dot slowly closing the distance between it and the cluster of green dots.

"Distance from the target location, Alpha 321: 50 meters."

Knowing that he had to leave on solid ground in the next few minutes, Yu called out to his robot companion, Izanagi and asked with a smirk on his face.

"Are you ready to kick some shadow's ass, buddy?" He questioned with a hint of excitement in his facial features, glazing towards the enlarging view of the city.

"I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN READY SINCE THE BEGINNING, YU-SAMA." The A.I replied with an emotionless voice.

"Distance from the target location, Alpha 321: 10 meters."

"Senpai! It is time to remove the boosters!" Rise told him desperately as the distance counter steadily counted down towards zero.

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Yu replied with a sign of irritation in his voice. He already knew the procedures to take off the rocket boosters. Looking towards a distinct red button above him, Yu pressed the switch without wasting a single second.

"Commence landing in… 3!"

"…2!"

"…1"

"Detaching boosters and activating landing gear…"

Similar to the half separation stage and the fuel tank separation of a rocket lift-off, the rocket boosters on Izanagi's back first separate half of the entire structure and let the unwanted piece of metal flew into an unknown direction.

The second half slowed down the descending of the giant robot by ejecting a large parachute that covered a huge chunk of the sky. However, the hulking metal beast still fell towards ground zero in blinding speeds. The surrounding air seemed to tear and bend around the humanoid shape of Izanagi.

"Warning code 101: risk of overheating 60%! Danger…! Danger…!"

"Senpai! The data shows that you are falling too fast! You should have adjusted the altitude during the launching stage. Those settings were from a previous mission by Unit #003! Your mecha could not handle it!" The sheer panic and anxiety could be heard through the speaker that was connected to the base. Rise was clearly terrified by the extremely high speeds of Izanagi falling towards the ground.

True to her words, the temperature inside the cockpit was getting hotter and hotter at an alarming rate. The metal pieces of Izanagi were starting to change color, going from silvery-white to glowing red hot. The air surrounding the metal tyrant formed a bright orange-red cone around it. The human pilot inside the robot was beginning to sweat profusely due to the extreme heat.

"Oh… My bad…" Yu said sheepishly as he embarrassed that he forgot such a simple act. Despite the potentially fatal situation, the veteran pilot remained calm and even amused by the strange twist of events.

"What you mean 'Oh'? You are going to die at this rate!" The voice from the speaker cried out loudly in annoyance and deep worry.

However, Yu still shrugged off the outburst from his friend. He had a deadpanned expression on his face. Staring at the ground beneath him, it was getting closer and deadlier in the eyes of the pilot. Yu sighed and cried out a command in calm and nonchalant manner.

"Izanagi, activate the armor enhancement and overclock the cooling generators."

It was a simple command, but its effects were infinitely more complex.

…

…

In Okina city, things were just as hectic, even not worse, as the situation with Yu inside Izanagi in the skies above.

The sounds of guns blazing, large canons firing and the constant shouting between solider and commanders compete against the deafening roar and earth-shaking footsteps of the Shadow – Wild Drive.

They were trying all they could to hold back the Shadow to buy time for the residents of the city to evacuate to safety.

As their defenses and barricades crumple before the giant beast, the brave ground warriors' prayed and hope that their only savior, the Persona will arrive in time.

 _(Fuuka: Commander, structural and mechanical synchronization with Okina City is now 100%! Awaiting permission to initiate command 'Safety Combat Arena'!)_

 _(Dojima: Permission granted. Set up the stage for Izanagi.)_

 _(Fuuka: Roger!)_

Just as soon as the military evacuated the civilians further into the safe zone within the city, large pillars of metal surfaced from the deep ground below and cut off the shadow's route towards its intended destination.

The large humanoid beast immediately stopped in its tracks to look at the strange obstacle blocking its way. It was unknown whether 'Wild Drive' was looking at the pillars with curiosity or confusion.

While the shadow was distracted, more pillars arise deep below the roads, soil, beach and more unusual locations. All of them serve to effectively isolate the target of interest near the soar line and away from the protected people of the city.

 _(Aigis: Activating electric barricade…)_

The sounds of the sizzling were heard from the large impassable walls.

It seems there were exposed conductive wires filled deadly electrical current flowing through it.

 _(Dojima: Where the heck is Unit#000?! It should be here right at this very second!)_

 _(Aigis: Um, Commander…?)_

 _(Dojima: What's the matter?)_

 _(Aigis: Unit#000 is arriving in 10 seconds, right on top of Shadow 'Wild Drive'.)_

 _(Dojima: ….)_

Strangely, the shadow was reacting sharply to its surroundings. Something or someone was causing it to be confused. Once the hulking beast took a 360 degree spin to check every corner of the small arena, it slowly looked up.

Much to its dismay, there was a mini fiery ball of metal falling directly on top of it. Fast.

The falling object was moving in blinding speeds, leaving 'Wild Drive' little room to react to it. Several seconds later, the sound of hefty metal crushing alien flesh was heard.

*SPLAT*

A cloud of black smoke engulfed the entire arena, covering the view of hidden cameras that monitor the condition of Okina city and Izanagi. Soil, debris, and water from the pipes were flung high in the air, before finding back its way onto earth, far from its original position.

 _(Dojima: Supporters! Give me a status report on Unit#000 immediately!)_

 _(Rise: O-On it! Connecting to Unit#000 communication system… And… The connection is successful! Come in, Izanagi and the Fool. Are you alright?)_

Within the center of slowly dissipating black smoke cloud, a flaming red towering figure stood. The red hot metal parts of the humanoid machine slowly turned back to its original color – silver, as it rapidly cooled down from the insane heat gained friction and air resistance.

"Whew, that was rough…" Yu remarked after him and his mecha had a hard and uneven landing. He then quickly looked up to where Izanagi' internal sensors were and asked worriedly.

"Are you okay, Izanagi? Are you still functional? Can you move?"

"I AM STILL FULLY OPERATIONAL, YU-SAMA. DO NOT WORRY." The A.I replied, easing the tension on the silver-haired pilot's shoulders. As he was waiting for his vision to be completely clear, the annoying bleeping cry on monitor screen causing Yu to turn his attention to it for now.

Pressing the red 'alert' icon, Yu realized he might be getting a scolding from the lead supporter and possibility the sergeant.

"Come in, Izanagi and the Fool. Are you alright?" Rise cried in concern as she stared at the young pilot's face to look for any injuries.

"The both of us are fine. Not broken bones, parts or anything." Yu replied with a reassuring smile. For a second, he thought she would let the matter pass because he was alive. However, that bubble was burst when Rise was screaming angrily at Yu.

"Oh my god, how stupid can you be?! How many times do I have to tell you that you have to check the launching settings before you set your mecha on it?!"

"It must have slipped past my mind…" Yu muttered shamefully as he avoided eye contact from the twin tailed woman. It was indeed embarrassing to be scolded by one of his closest friends in front of the crew. Rise was about to press on, wanting to make him understand how worried she was for his life.

However, Fuuka kindly nudged her and mouthed that 'time is running out'.

The lead supporter sighed heavily, before waving it off. She focused her mind back on the original objective – destroying the shadow, which reminds her…

 _Oh shit…_

Signals on her radar bleeped wildly, alerted the activity of their target of annihilation. Rise stood up and screamed loudly at the microphone in headphones, causing to Yu to wince.

Once Izanagi and the Fool got the message, surprise and confusion was seen on the pilot's face.

"You are standing on top of 'Wild Drive'! Move! NOW!"

However, it was too late. Izanagi was already in the high up in the air a second time… with a very, very pissed off shadow waiting below them.

...

 **~In the next episode of 'The war of the future'~**

"Get out of there! You are being overwhelmed!"

"B-But sir! I… I…!"

"M-Mummy… I'm scared. Where's big bro?"

"N-Nanako? No… No… NO!"

"Yu? Yu! YUUUU!"

 _ **~To be continued~**_

* * *

A/N: I'm so sorry to cut this short. I just want to let you guys know I am still alive and still doing persona fanfics.


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